Queensland Seller Disclosure Scheme 2025: Everything That Changed on 1 August 2025
Your seller has a buyer ready to sign. The contract is prepared, the price is agreed, and the agent is about to hand over the paperwork. Under the old rules, that was largely the end of your pre-contract obligations. Under the Queensland seller disclosure scheme 2025 changes, it is the beginning of them — and getting it wrong hands the buyer a termination right that survives all the way to settlement.
Queensland’s new statutory seller disclosure regime took effect on 1 August 2025, marking one of the most significant overhauls of property law in decades. Introduced under the Property Law Act 2023 (Qld), the new laws require sellers — in most transactions — to provide a Form 2 Seller Disclosure Statement and all prescribed certificates before a buyer signs a contract. That is not a technicality. It is a hard-wired pre-condition to entering a valid contract, and the compliance burden now sits squarely with the seller — and by extension, the agent managing the transaction.
The seller disclosure regime applies to all contracts for the sale of existing freehold property entered into from 1 August 2025. In short, this new regime does away with Queensland’s “buyer beware” premise and imposes on the seller the responsibility to undertake a certain level of due diligence to provide the buyer with information relating to the property before the buyer signs the contract.
What the Property Law Act 2023 Actually Did
The Property Law Act 2023 (Qld), which took effect on 1 August 2025, replaces the 50-year-old Property Law Act 1974 (Qld) with a modernised and revised framework. For residential conveyancing, the most immediate consequence is structural: the scheme shifts pre-contract due diligence costs and obligations from the buyer to the seller.
A major change introduced by the Act is the establishment of a seller disclosure regime in Queensland. While many other states have had such a regime in place for some time, this concept is a pivot to existing practices in property sales in Queensland, as previously sellers were only required to disclose a limited number of matters to buyers before entering into a contract. Queensland was, for a long time, an outlier. The new scheme brings it broadly into line with disclosure frameworks operating in Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia, though the specific content requirements differ.
From 1 August 2025, anyone selling freehold land — residential, commercial, industrial, rural, vacant, or strata-titled — must provide certain disclosures before buyers sign a contract. The disclosure obligation is not limited to residential property. If you are listing a commercial warehouse, a rural acreage, or a vacant block, the same pre-contract disclosure framework applies.
The obligation is embedded in section 99 of the Property Law Act 2023, which provides that the seller (or their authorised agent) must give the buyer a signed disclosure statement in the approved form and each document prescribed by regulation before the buyer signs the contract. Critically, the obligation to give the disclosure statement and prescribed certificates cannot be contracted out of under section 98. Parties cannot agree to waive it in the contract itself — only a limited set of statutory exemptions applies.
Form 2: What It Is and What It Contains
Form 2 is the approved Seller Disclosure Statement for the scheme. The official Form 2 is published on the Queensland Government Publications Portal and is the form sellers must use. No substitute form, no modified version, no agency-designed alternative. Form 2 (Version 1) is effective from 1 August 2025 and references the seller disclosure obligations in section 99 of the Property Law Act 2023.
The statement must be completed using the approved Form 2, which includes six parts covering things like property title details, encumbrances, zoning, environmental issues, and building approvals. Across those six parts, the prescribed information set by the Property Law Regulation 2024 (Qld) includes:
- Part 1 — Seller and Property Details: seller’s legal name, property address, lot and plan description, and whether the lot is in a community titles scheme
- Part 2 — Title Details and Encumbrances: registered and unregistered encumbrances including easements, covenants, leases, oral agreements, and statutory encumbrances such as infrastructure access rights
- Part 3 — Land Use, Planning and Environment: zoning, heritage listings, transport infrastructure proposals, contamination entries on the Environmental Management Register or Contaminated Land Register, and notices of resumption
- Part 4 — Buildings and Structures: pool safety compliance, owner-builder works carried out under a permit in the last six years, show cause notices or enforcement notices under the Building Act 1975 (Qld) or Planning Act 2016 (Qld)
- Part 5 — Rates and Charges: current council rates and water service charges
- Part 6 — Community Title and BUGTA Schemes: body corporate details, levies, and the community management statement
The disclosure statement must contain the information prescribed by regulation, which must be true at the time the statement is given. Accuracy at the moment of delivery is the standard. The scheme also states there is no obligation to update the disclosure statement after it has been given. If circumstances change after the Form 2 is handed to the buyer but before the buyer signs, the seller is not automatically required to issue an amended form — but any known material inaccuracy at the time of signing creates exposure under section 104.
It is worth noting what Form 2 does not cover. In particular, the disclosure statement does not require the disclosure of information relating to limits imposed by planning laws on the use of the land, services that are or may be connected to the property, or the presence of asbestos within buildings or improvements on the property. There is currently no obligation to disclose any history of flooding related to the property, which is surprising given the potential impact a flood event could have on a buyer. Agents working with properties in flood-affected catchments should ensure buyers understand this gap and direct them to FloodCheck Queensland and other independent resources.
Mandatory Prescribed Certificates: The Documents That Must Accompany Form 2
Form 2 alone is not sufficient. In addition to the seller disclosure statement, the seller must provide certain documents prescribed by regulation. The prescribed certificates include a body corporate certificate and copy of the community management statement if the property is included in a community title scheme or BUGTA scheme, and notices under other legislation including the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991, Building Act 1975, Planning Act 2016 and Environmental Protection Act 1994.
Mandatory disclosure information includes: a title search and copy of the registered survey plan; details of all encumbrances (whether registered or not); for a community titles scheme (CTS) lot, a prescribed certificate (Form 33 body corporate certificate) and a copy of the community management statement for the CTS; any recording of the property on the environmental management register or the contaminated land register; details of any notices of resumption affecting the property; details of tree applications or orders affecting the property; copies of any unsatisfied show cause notices or enforcement notices under the Planning Act 2016 (Qld) or Building Act 1975 (Qld); and information on transport infrastructure proposals affecting the property.
Pool safety is specifically captured. Where a pool exists on the lot, a pool compliance certificate — or a notice confirming there is no pool safety certificate — must be provided as a prescribed certificate.
While these documents do not have to be attached to the disclosure statement or sent simultaneously, it is best practice to annex all the prescribed certificates to the disclosure statement so there is clear evidence that the seller has complied with their requirements. In practice, presenting a consolidated disclosure pack — Form 2 plus all applicable prescribed certificates — is the only workflow that reliably protects both seller and agent from a later dispute about what was, and was not, delivered before the buyer signed.
The Act provides that the disclosure statement and prescribed certificates may be given physically or electronically, and also signed electronically, for easier access and convenience. This facilitates the use of electronic delivery platforms such as DocuSign and cloud storage or as a secure link in an email. However, the buyer must consent to receiving the disclosure statement and prescribed certificates via electronic means before the documents will be deemed to have been delivered. Agents relying on email delivery should obtain written consent to electronic delivery before sending the pack, and retain delivery receipts.
Body Corporate Properties: The New Certificate Requirements
Strata and community title properties carry the heaviest disclosure burden under the new scheme. The old section 206 disclosure statement regime under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld) — which sellers or their solicitors could prepare themselves — is gone.
From 1 August 2025, Queensland’s property legislation introduced new seller disclosure requirements for lots in community title schemes. The previous section 206 disclosure statement has been replaced by the Body Corporate Certificate — Form 33 (or Form 34 for specified two-lot schemes).
The certificates are: Form 33 — for schemes regulated under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld) (BCCMA) and regulated by the standard, accommodation, commercial or small schemes modules; Form 34 — for BCCMA schemes regulated under the specified two-lot module; or Form 18 — for schemes regulated under the Building Units and Group Titles Act 1980 (Qld) (BUGTA).
The information required for inclusion in the certificates covers: details of the scheme, lot and plan of subdivision, including whether a building management statement applies and whether the scheme is part of a layered arrangement; lot entitlements, contributions (levies), statement of accounts, sinking fund balance, body corporate assets and insurance information; details of by-laws and exclusive use areas; improvements to the common property that benefit the lot; and details of caretaking and letting contracts for the scheme.
Unlike a section 206 disclosure statement, only the body corporate can prepare the body corporate certificate for the lot. The seller (or their agent, if authorised) will need to send a written request for a body corporate certificate to their body corporate manager or committee. The Property Law Regulation 2024 stipulates that the body corporate must provide the certificate within five business days of receiving a written request. The body corporate can also charge a fee for producing the certificate.
Using the wrong form can render your disclosure invalid. Providing Form 33 where Form 34 is required — or vice versa — constitutes defective disclosure, and in some cases the buyer may terminate the contract right up until settlement. This is not a theoretical risk. Agents listing strata properties must confirm the applicable regulation module before ordering the certificate, and must allow for the five-business-day production window in their sales timeline.
Where the body corporate cannot produce a certificate — due to missing or destroyed records, or because the relevant circumstances under section 6 of the Property Law Regulation 2024 apply — the seller may instead give an explanatory statement. In circumstances where a body corporate does not respond to a request in time or at all, the seller will need to seek legal advice about how their disclosure obligations will be impacted.
Timing: When Disclosure Must Happen
The key change is timing: disclosure must happen before the buyer signs the contract. Under the scheme, before a contract for sale is signed by the buyer, the seller must give the buyer the Seller Disclosure Statement (Form 2) in the approved form and any prescribed certificates applicable to the lot.
This timing obligation applies to private treaty sales, auction sales, and option contracts.
For auction sales, the timing rules operate differently. For auctions, disclosure must be given to registered bidders before the start of the auction. Disclosure can be given to unregistered bidders before completion of the auction in accordance with section 103 of the Act. In practice, this means the Form 2 and all prescribed certificates should be available in the auctioneer’s data room or displayed at the auction venue from the opening, and provided to any bidder who registers after the auction has commenced before the fall of the hammer.
For put and call options granted on or after 1 August 2025, contract is defined in section 95 of the Property Law Act 2023 to include an option for the sale of the lot. Therefore, for options entered into on or after 1 August 2025, a seller is required to provide seller disclosure before an option is entered into and before the resultant contract is entered into on exercise of the option, unless the exception in section 100(j) applies.
Where there are multiple buyers, disclosure can be given to any one of those buyers but must be given before the first buyer signs the contract. If there are multiple sellers, disclosure can be given by any one of those sellers.
The regime applies to all contracts entered into on or after 1 August 2025, regardless of when the property was listed for sale. A property listed in June 2025 under the old framework still required a compliant Form 2 and prescribed certificates if the contract was not signed until after 1 August.
Exemptions: When Disclosure Is Not Required
Not every transaction is captured. A number of exemptions to the seller disclosure regime include: where the buyer and seller are related (within the meaning of the Property Law Act 2023) and the buyer provides a waiver notice; where the buyer is the State, Commonwealth, another State, a local government, or a constructing authority; where the buyer is a listed corporation or a subsidiary of a listed corporation; where the contract arises from the exercise of an option (with no nomination) and the seller gave a compliant disclosure statement and prescribed certificates on entering into the option; and where the purchase price is greater than $10 million including GST and the buyer provides a waiver notice.
The new PLA disclosure requirements do not apply to “proposed lots” being sold off-the-plan. These transactions remain governed by the disclosure regimes under the Land Sales Act 1984 (Qld) and Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld).
Transmissions as a result of death are also excluded. The seller disclosure scheme does not apply to a contract that gives effect to the transmission of an interest in the lot because of the death of an owner of the lot to the owner’s personal representative, or the transfer or transmission of an interest in the lot because of the death of an owner to a person under the owner’s will, the rules of intestacy, or a court order under the Succession Act 1981, part 4.
Agents should not assume an exemption applies without verifying the specific conditions. The definitions in the Property Law Act 2023 — particularly the definition of “related” parties — are precise, and an incorrect assumption of exemption exposes the seller to the full range of termination consequences under section 104.
Consequences of Non-Disclosure: Section 104 and Buyer Termination Rights
This is the clause agents need to understand thoroughly, because the consequence of non-compliance is not a penalty payable to a regulator — it is a right in the buyer’s hands, exercisable at any time up to settlement.
Section 99 grants a right to the buyer to terminate the contract under section 104 at any time prior to settlement: (i) if the seller fails to give a disclosure statement or prescribed certificate applicable to the lot before the buyer signed the contract; or (ii) if the disclosure statement or prescribed certificate applicable to the lot was given before the buyer signed the contract and the statement or document was inaccurate or incomplete in relation to a material matter affecting the lot.
For non-delivery — no Form 2 at all, or a missing prescribed certificate — failure by the seller to give the Form 2 Seller Disclosure Statement (or an applicable prescribed certificate) will create a right for the buyer to terminate the contract at any time up until settlement. There is no materiality threshold. If it was not given, the termination right exists.
Where disclosure was provided but contains inaccuracies or omissions, the test is more nuanced. A termination right for the buyer will also be created if there are inaccuracies or omissions in the disclosure about a material matter affecting the property of which the buyer was unaware and the buyer would not have entered the contract had the buyer been aware of the correct state of affairs. This is a three-part test: the matter must be material, the buyer must have been unaware of the true position, and the buyer must demonstrate they would not have signed if they had known.
When a buyer exercises their right to terminate, there is no statutory right to compensation, however the seller must refund any deposit and any interest on the deposit to the buyer. Specifically, the seller must within 14 days of termination repay to the buyer any amount paid towards the purchase of the lot, together with any interest that has accrued.
Given that the seller cannot “cure” any non-compliance after the contract is signed, it is critical that sellers take the time to gather all necessary information and ensure that their disclosure statement is complete and accurate before placing their property on the market.
Agent Obligations vs Seller Obligations: Where the Lines Fall
The seller bears the legal obligation to provide disclosure. That is the unambiguous position under section 99 of the Property Law Act 2023. However, agents are squarely in the compliance chain — and the practical and professional consequences of a failed disclosure fall on the agent as much as on the seller.
Section 99 requires the seller or their authorised agent to provide a signed disclosure statement in the approved form and each document prescribed by regulation to the buyer before the buyer signs the contract. An agent who is authorised by the seller to deliver the disclosure documents is acting as the seller’s agent for that purpose, and delivery by the agent satisfies the seller’s obligation — provided the documents are complete, accurate, and timed correctly.
What agents cannot do is prepare or interpret search results on the seller’s behalf. Agents must follow a strict workflow and must not provide legal advice or interpret search results. The agent’s role is to ensure the seller understands their obligations early in the listing process, to direct the seller to engage a solicitor or conveyancer to compile the disclosure pack, and to ensure the completed pack is in hand before the first buyer is invited to sign. An agent who presses ahead and invites a contract execution without confirming disclosure compliance is exposing their principal to a live termination risk and themselves to a professional conduct complaint.
From a selling agent’s perspective, the recommended approach is to ensure your client is aware of the disclosure requirements and that they engage a lawyer to obtain and collate the necessary prescribed certificates at the time the listing agreement is entered into. That way, the disclosure statement is complete and ready to issue to buyers when the property is launched to market.
The Seller Disclosure Statement must be signed by the seller or their agent before it is given to the buyer. An unsigned Form 2 is a defective disclosure, and an agent facilitating a contract on the basis of an unsigned form is facilitating non-compliance.
The REIQ has voiced concern about a lack of government infrastructure to support the new requirements, particularly in regional Queensland. “It’s important that sellers understand that a contract should not be entered into until a disclosure statement is provided, and there is time and costs associated with preparing this document,” said REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella. “Unlike other states, Queensland still lacks a quality, comprehensive statewide search tool to help sellers obtain the information required for disclosure. This places a disproportionate burden on sellers — especially those in regional and rural areas — who must navigate disconnected systems to collect and verify property details.” This is a genuine practical issue for agents in regional markets, and one that requires building longer lead times into the pre-market phase.
What This Means for Queensland Agents
The Queensland seller disclosure scheme 2025 changes require a fundamental shift in how listing and pre-market preparation is managed. The following operational adjustments are not optional — they reflect the minimum standard of practice for every listing taken on from 1 August 2025.
Start disclosure at listing, not at offer. The Form 2 and all prescribed certificates should be ordered as soon as a Form 6 authority is signed — not when a buyer is interested. Obtaining all the required information and documents for disclosure can be time-consuming, particularly in cases where the documents must come from government departments or third parties. It is recommended that sellers plan ahead and allow plenty of time to gather all information and documents required to avoid unnecessary delays to the sale process.
Factor in body corporate lead times. For strata and community title properties, the Property Law Regulation 2024 stipulates that the body corporate must provide the certificate within five business days of receiving a written request. Request it the day the listing authority is signed. Do not request it after you have an interested buyer.
Never hand over a contract for signature without a complete disclosure pack in hand. Miss a document, use the wrong form, or serve it too late, and the buyer can terminate — even after going unconditional. The termination right under section 104 persists all the way to settlement. A buyer who changes their mind six weeks into a contract has every incentive to scrutinise the disclosure pack for defects.
Confirm delivery and keep the records. Whether disclosure is delivered physically or electronically, retain proof. If delivering electronically, obtain the buyer’s prior written consent to electronic delivery and keep a delivery receipt. When sending a secure link via email containing disclosure documents, the seller should request a delivery receipt notification confirming that the email has been successfully delivered to the buyer’s nominated email address.
Know the exemptions — but verify them. The $10 million threshold, the related-party exemption, and the listed corporation exemption all have specific conditions attached. Do not assume an exemption applies on the face of the transaction without having it confirmed by the seller’s solicitor.
Remind buyers that disclosure does not replace their due diligence. While the regime enhances consumer protection by providing a consistent foundation of information, buyers need to understand that the disclosure statement may not cover everything they wish to know about a property. The “buyer beware” principle still applies in Queensland. Buyers should continue to conduct their own independent inquiries and seek legal and other relevant professional advice to fully understand the condition and suitability of the property they are purchasing.
The practical reality of this reform is straightforward: the agent who builds disclosure preparation into the front end of every listing workflow will operate with far fewer transaction failures than the agent who treats it as a last-minute conveyancing detail. The termination right is real, it is in the buyer’s hands, and it lasts until settlement. That is the landscape Queensland agents are now operating in.